Exploring the American Civil War through 50 Historic Treasures: : AASLH Exploring America's Historic Treasures Julie L. Holcomb Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Exploring the American Civil War through 50 Historic Treasures

Description

Exploring the American Civil War through 50 Historic Treasures brings together historic objects, documents, artwork, and the natural and built environments to tell the full story of this important event in American history. The American Civil War still matters. It matters because the war—its causes and its consequences— continue to influence America as a nation. At its core, the Civil War was about slavery. Began as a fight to secure the future of slavery, the Civil War resulted instead in the abolition of slavery. The complex racial issues at its core, however, remain with us today.
Exploring the American Civil War through 50 Historic Treasures begins with the causes of the war, examining objects that tell the story of slavery and its expansion in the nineteenth century. Cultural treasures representing the war years explore the battlefield and the homefront and the men and women caught up in the war as well the ways in which the scale of the war forced technological innovations.
Given the centrality of slavery, race, and emancipation in the story of the Civil War, one section presents objects that detail how free and enslaved blacks transformed the war effort and were in turn transformed by the war. In the final section, the historic treasures trace the ongoing impact of the war, including the dramatic increase in the removal of Confederate monuments in the summer of 2020.
Each object's story is detailed with color photos that draw readers into the story of the American Civil War. Many of these objects appear here in print for the first time.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Object Timeline
Civil War Timeline
Introduction
Acknowledgements
Part One: Causes
For Sale – “A Day I’ll Never Forgit”Good Credit, Good Prices, & Good Profits: The Slave Labor EconomyBuy for the Sake of the Slave!: Quakers, Antislavery, and the Boycott of Slave LaborStrike a Blow for Freedom: Black Activism and the Abolitionist Movement“I will be harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice”: The Antebellum Antislavery MovementBleeding Kansas, Bleeding Sumner: Challenges to the Expansion of Slavery in the WestPart Two: Politics
“A Man Kidnapped!”: Northern Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850“Honest Old Abe is Bound to Win”: The Election of 1860The Union is Dissolved!: The Secession Crisis “Strike for Your Altars and Your Fires!”: The Fight for the Border StatesSecuring Alliances: The Confederate Government and the Five TribesJohn Bull Makes a Choice: Cotton and International PoliticsPart Three: Battlefield
A Sacred Emblem of the Battle of Glorieta PassSand Creek Massacre National Historic Site: The Indian Wars in the Civil War EraA Terrible Slaughter: The Battle of Gettysburg“We Will Prove Ourselves Men”: The United States Colored TroopsCaring for the Wounded: Nurses in the Civil War“His names was Bidwell Pedley”: Caring for the Dead during the Civil WarPart Four: Officers
“Let them surrender and go home”: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court HouseLee’s Right Army: Stonewall Jackson“The Beast”: Benjamin Butler and the Occupation of New OrleansThe “Father of Black Nationalism”: Martin DelanyPart Five: Soldiers
“Those d—d black hatted fellows”: The Iron Brigade of the WestLee’s Shock Troops: Hood’s Texas Brigade“What is to be done with the prisoners?”: Union and Confederate PrisonsDays of Infamy and Disgrace: The New York City Draft RiotsThe Evolution of the Union CavalryPart Six: Home Front
“The Last Thought of a Dying Father”: The Northern Home Front“Bread or Blood!”: The Southern Home Front during the Civil War“Pounding on the Rock”: African American Families in the Civil War North“I Wanted to Be My Own General”: Guerilla Warfare and the HomefrontOn Her Own: The Texas Home Front during the Civil WarPart Seven: Symbols
“The Speechless Agony of the Fettered Slave”: The Symbolism of the Antislavery Movement“The Little Woman Who Made the Great War”: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom’s Cabin“If you want my flag, you’ll have to take it over my dead body”: National and Regimental Flags during the Civil WarSetting the Beat for War: Popular Music in the North and the SouthPart Eight: Technology
The Great Locomotive Chaise: Railroads and Military StrategyA Scientific Foundation for Medical Care: The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion“A curious marine monster”: Ironclads and Riverine WarfareThe Silk Dress Balloon: Aeronautics in the Civil WarPart Nine: Emancipation
Freedom’s Fort: The Beginnings of EmancipationAn Abolition War: The Emancipation ProclamationTroubled Refuge: Contraband CampsA New Birth of Freedom: Thirteenth AmendmentHelp Me Find My People: Reconstructing Black FamiliesPart Ten: Legacy
“I Won’t Be Reconstructed”: Southerners and Confederate DefeatMemorializing the Dead: Race, Heritage, and the Lost CauseReconciliation and Reunion: Blue and Gray Reunions in the Post-Civil War EraThe Black Confederate Story: Civil War History and Memory in the Age of the InternetStone Mountain: Confederate Monuments in the Twenty-First CenturyAfterword
Index
Bibliography
About the Author

Product details

Published	May 15 2021
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	384
ISBN	9781538118559
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Illustrations	75 colour photos; 1 table; 3 textboxes
Dimensions	241 x 160 mm
Series	AASLH Exploring America's Historic Treasures
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

At almost no time in our post-1865 history has it been so clear that the Civil War, though settled, has never really been over. This compendium features artifacts from many small museums, examining a wide variety of objects from the origins of the war right up to recent challenges to Confederate monuments. The final artifact included is a mural of George Floyd on a wall in Portland, Oregon. The objects are not presented in chronological order, but a chronological time line of objects and a Civil War time line immediately follow the preface. Artifacts are organized by category: causes, politics, battlefield, soldiers, home front, symbols, emancipation, and legacy. Each entry begins with a clear color photograph or reproduction with information on the collection in which the artifact is found and the accession number. An informed and readable essay follows, giving context (like political and social movements), concepts represented, and relevant historical and biographical detail. The volume ends with chapter notes, including relevant publications and websites, and a lengthy selected bibliography. Certainly timely, this title is worthy of consideration for public and university collections.

Booklist
In Exploring the American Civil War through 50 Historic Treasures, Julie Holcomb relates the inspiring and painful history of the Civil War era through photographs, letters, objects, and art. Her compelling work underscores how material culture can help the public understand a complex past that continues to echo in our society today.

Susannah J. Ural, Ph.D., professor of history, co-director, The Dale Center for the Study of War & Society, University of Southern Mississippi, director, Civil War & Reconstruction Governors of Mississippi Project
In Exploring the Civil War Through 50 Historic Treasures, Julie Holcomb takes a broad view of both the Civil War and what constitutes an object. The result is a rich and occasionally surprising discussion of the war that looks back to its roots and forward to its legacy.

Pamela D. Toler, author of Heroines of Mercy Street: Real Nurses of the Civil War and Women Warriors: An Unexpected History
From literature to landscapes, Professor Holcomb’s inspired selection of fifty historical objects immediately transports readers to the Civil War era. Her expertly researched snapshots provide an absorbing overview of the conflict, illuminating important social, political, and military issues. Holcomb’s crisp narration will draw in a general readership, while her academic sensibility makes the book suitable for a variety of classroom applications.

Theresa Kaminski, author of Queen of the West: The Life and Times of Dale Evans